Marc Antony was Julius Caesar’s best friend and right hand man, but after Julius’ assassination he changed from a respected Roman leader to what the Roman citizens considered as an “Abuse of Power. ” The Roman believed that Marc Antony had ten times the power he should have had as one man. Julius Caesar had created a position for Marc Antony called the “Master of Horse” which meant Antony was Julius Caesar’s Deputy or Lieutenant.
Julius Caesar created this position for Antony because Julius Caesar wanted a more democratic way to run Rome, and Julius thought that maybe by giving Marc Anthony some sort of power it would satisfy his craving for authority. Marc Antony used Julius’ position as an opportunity to gain fame and popularity with the Roman people. In the play there were three times that Marc Antony made a big scene in front of all the Romans, first was when he declared Brutus and Cassius enemies of Rome who must be put to death immediately after Julius Caesar’s assassination.
The next time came when Mark Antony exposed Julius Caesar’s body to the Roman citizenry. Marc Antony fully exposed Julius Caesar’s wounds for all the citizens to see, in order to prove that Julius’ death was not an accident. The third time happened when Marc Antony gave Julius Caesar a proper burial. By doing these three things Marc Antony made himself extremely popular with the Roman people because he did what they wanted him to do.
They thought Julius Caesar was dead so they were not happy about it but then because of Mark Antony they got their revenge on Julius Caesar’s murderers and Julius Caesar had a proper burial which showed how much power he really had over Rome. These actions that Mark Antony took were called “Abuse of Power” by Julius Caesar’s supporters because Julius’ supporters believed that Julius did not want Julius Caesar’s death to cause a power struggle in Rome.
Julius’ supporters wanted Julius Caesar’s death to be because Julius Caesar was too old and sick to run Rome anymore, not because of revenge and anger from the Roman citizens. Marc Antony did so many things wrong after Julius was assassinated that the Roman people felt he abused his power by using Julius’ authority incorrectly. One minor thing Marc Antony did wrong was how he ran Julius’ funeral through the streets of Rome with Julius’ body exposed for all to see, but this action cannot really be considered an abuse of power because it is just tradition that Romans do for kings or leaders who die.
Another example would be when Marc Antony put Brutus and Cassius on public trial and in the end Julius Caesar’s supporters wanted Julius’ murderers to be sentenced to death immediately but Julius’ supporters agreed that Julius would have been happy with Brutus and Cassius being put on a public trial. Julius’ supporters felt Marc Antony was misusing Julius’ power because Julius did not want his enemies executed, he just wanted them put on a public trial.
Marc Antony was acting in favor of the Roman people over Julius so they believed it was an abuse of power when Mark Antony took back land from Pompey who had defected from Julius Caesar. The Roman people felt this action by Mark Antony was an abuse of power because they thought Julius Caesar should have kept it for himself since he won it fairly in battle. Another example is when Marc Antony had Julius Caesar’s will read out in public, he did this even though Julius’ supporters wanted Julius’ will to be private.
Julius’ supporters thought the will was meant to stay private so they felt this action by Mark Antony was an abuse of power because Julius Caesar never wanted his wishes to be made public. Marc Antony got rid of all Julius Caesar’s appointments that were given out after Julius Caesar died and replaced Julius’ appointments with his own which was another example of an abuse of power in the Roman citizen’s eyes. The Roman people believed Julius Caesar should have kept these positions for himself since it is what Julius wanted them to do.
Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare’s famous and well-known tragedies. Julius Caesar is a story about the main events between Julius Caesar and Marc Antony after Julius’s death, thus portraying the theories of Julius Caesar’s assassination. [1]
It it important to note that Julius Caesar was written in Elizabethan times; therefore some words used in Julius Caesar may not be considered appropriate today such as “thou”, which means “you”, and similar words. They have been replaced with modern equivalents for reader convenience. [2]
The main characters of Julius Caesar include: Julius Caesar himself, Mark Antony, Brutus, Cassius etc., who all shaped up history in one way or another. Julius Caesar is Julius’s tragic hero because he has all the qualities of a tragic hero, yet Julius dies at the end. However, even though Julius dies at the end of Julius Caesar as a tragic hero, he also succeeds as a ruler and as a man as well.
There are many specific reasons why Julius Caesar is considered to be Julius’s tragic hero, some of those reasons include: Julius was ambitious towards his goal of ruling Rome successfully, Julius took risks which resulted in him being killed by members of the Roman Senate and lastly Julius had flaws that eventually contributed to his death. [3]
Julius Caesar was a commonwealth official and general of Rome. Julius had many political enemies, such as Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. After Julius Caesar had defeated the conspirators in the First Triumvirate War, Marc Antony took control of Rome and began an affair with Julius’ wife Fulvia.
Marc Antony did not only take over Julius Caesar’s role as leader of Rome, he also tried to use Julius’s dignitas against him by proclaiming Julius a god while Julius lay dying from the wound inflicted by Brutus (Shakespeare). Another reason that Marcus Cicero, who opposed Julius Ceasar’s dictatorship, might have considered this abuse of power is because it showed how powerful Marc Antony was as a politician and Julius Ceasar’s appointed successor.
Julius Caesar considered his dignitas to be very important, which is the main reason he refused to divorce Fulvia according to Julius Ceasar biographer Suetonius (Suet), so it would not make sense that Julius agreed to a relationship between Marc Antony and Julius’s wife.
In William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar , after Caius Cassius says “The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power,” Brutus agrees but then adds that the people only have control over what leaders let them do, which leads into a discussion about how Julius made the Roman people feel so powerful by naming himself dictator life.
